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My
main hobby is Amateur Radio, also known
as ham radio. I’ve been at it about
thirty years. Apart from the original
purpose of talking on the radio to
people all over the world, there are
several other facets that serve the
community. Perhaps the most beneficial
is storm spotting. The National Weather
Service conducts annual classes in every
county to train people as storm spotters
and ham operators make up a large
percentage of these individuals. Since I
live in Whitesboro, I am part of the
Grayson County ham radio operators who
participate whenever threatening weather
is present.
We have
ham radios in our vehicles so we can
communicate with the Emergency
Operations Center in Sherman, which is
located in the basement of the Sherman
Police Department. They are in contact
with the NWS in Fort Worth, the local TV
stations and various law enforcement
agencies in the immediate area. When
weather threatens, the net is called up
and we go to our assigned spots around
the county or to other places as
required and directed by the Net Control
Operator and report on the weather.
A few
weeks ago, I received an email from a
ham operator serving in the national ham
organization, the ARRL (American Radio
Relay League), advising that there were
12 different bills in the Texas
legislature that unintentionally
threatened ham radio. These bills were
written to ban talking and texting on
cell phones in cars while driving. But
as worded these bills seek to ban the
use of "wireless telecommunications
devices" while operating a motor
vehicle. This includes all
communications devices. If passed, these
laws would effectively outlaw talking on
the radio while mobile and thus diminish
our capability to conduct emergency
communications. That would also seem to
include all those “good buddies” out
there in 18-wheelers. This email went
out to every ham operator belonging to
the organization throughout the state
and each of us was urged to politely
contact the legislators sponsoring these
bills as well as our own state
representative, by phone or FAX, and
urge them to consider rewording the
pending legislation, citing the reasons
I’ve just mentioned. We were also urged
to act immediately inasmuch as these
bills would come before a committee of
some sort the following morning,
probably to be hammered into a single
piece of legislation.
While we
were discouraged from sending email, I
emailed my state rep, Larry Phillips. In
less than three hours, I got reply from
him that said, “Thanks for the e-mail
regarding these bills. I will be
working to make sure that if any of
these bills are passed that they contain
proper language to resolve the concerns
you have. Let us know if you have any
further questions or comments.” I have
every confidence he did as he promised
though I haven’t looked any further into
matter.
About the
same time I received Mr. Phillip’s
email, another came in from the ham
organization that asked everyone to stop
phoning and FAXing Austin because they
had “got the message” and their
switchboard and FAX machines were
clogged up. We were thanked for our
participation and so forth.
The point
I’m attempting to make really hasn’t
much to do with ham radio but rather
with the fact that if people pay
attention to what is going on, not only
in the state legislature but with
congress as well, politicians are
generally sensitive to what their
constituents have to say. You can make a
difference.
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